Napier Hits Sharks for Six - Again and Again and Again

The Essex all rounder Graham Napier smashed the highest individual score ever seen in a Twenty20 game on these shores as the Eagles crushed Sussex by 128 runs at Chelmsford to ensure their hunt for a place in the last eight of the competition continues.

Napier's innings of 152 came from just 58 balls and contained no less than 16 sixes - a world record - as he peppered the stands in a brutal display of clean hitting. Only Brenden McCullum, the New Zealand batsman currently touring England, has racked up a bigger scored in the 20-over form of the game - his 158 during an IPL match in April being scored off 73 balls.

Coming in at first wicket down, Napier proceeded to put on partnerships of 77 and 119 with Jason Gallian and James Foster respectively, as Essex eased past the 200-mark. With James Kirtley running in to bowl the final over, Napier repeatedly launched the ball beyond the rope in a sequence of 6-4-6-6-6 as 29 runs were yielded, bringing the total up to 242, the fourth highest in Twenty20 history.

Thereafter the result was never in doubt, Sussex regularly losing wickets in search of boundaries as they tried to keep time with a run rate of more than 12 an over, eventually succumbing for 114 in the 17th over. Napier's two fruitless overs were dispatched for 20 runs, but that could hardly fade the luster on his man-of-the-match performance; and three wickets apiece for Maurice Chambers and James Middlebrook confirmed the inevitable.

Napier's feat was perhaps all the more surprising given his indifferent form with the bat this season, having only scored 96 runs from six previous innings with a top score of 37. In and out of Essex's championship side over recent seasons, the 28-year-old has carved out a successful niche for himself in the one-day game, but is more often turned to for his bowling.

However, after being promoted up the order as a pinch-hitter, Napier took his chance with alacrity and may well now appear on England's radar for Sir Allen Stanford's lucrative challenge and beyond. "It was a fantastic night for me, really awesome. I just started to see the ball well and things got better and better," he said, with more than a touch of understatement.